Quantcast

The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

96-Year-Old Woman Dies a Week After Man Shoves Her to the Ground, NYPD Says

By Aidan Gardiner | October 8, 2015 10:45am | Updated on October 12, 2015 8:59am

MANHATTAN — An elderly woman died Monday, a week after she broke her hip when a man shoved her to the ground in her Washington Heights building, police said.

Flomena Vargas, 96, was in the lobby of 131 Nagle Ave., near Arden Street, about 4:30 p.m. on Sept. 28, when Hansel Ramirez, 24, tried to get into the building, an NYPD spokeswoman said.

Vargas, who lived in the building, tried to prevent Ramirez from entering so he pushed her, knocking her to the ground, prosecutors said.

Vargas complained of pain in her hip and was taken to The Allen Hospital, where she was initially listed as stable with a broken hip, police.

Her condition deteriorated and she died on Oct. 5, according to the NYPD.

The city's medical examiner's office ruled her death a homicide, police said.

Ramirez, who lives on the same block, confessed to shoving Vargas and was arrested, police said.

He was arrainged on assault charges and held on $5,000 bail, according to jail records. He's due back in court on Oct. 28, records show.

Ramirez has been arrested 26 times before, most recently for hopping a turnstile in March, an NYPD spokeswoman said.

Most of his arrests are sealed, she said.